Fastlube Operators Electronic Message Board

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Now I would be willing to bet that your eyebrow just raised or you had some sort of knee-jerk reaction to what I just said. I can’t blame you. But, I will tell you this… As we proceed, it will become very evident to you how the ‘Strategy of Pre-Eminence’ led me to discover this ‘black-hole’ in the majority of independent American retail operations nationwide and why I feel it is my duty to share it with you!

Read On…

Where are the experts? Why didn’t someone point this out years ago? Why have I been wasting all this money? Why? Why? Why?!?!?

The last time you needed some marketing assistance, who did you call? A marketing company, an advertising agency, a cable T.V. station maybe? If you are like the rest of the Fast Lube operators out there you have built your business on a steady diet of the ‘everybody-knows-monthly-marketing-money-vacuum’. You know, Yellow Pages, Radio, T.V., Newspaper, Local High School Calendars and every other nickel-and-dime ad opportunity that has been brought through your front door by an unannounced, door-to-door sales-person. Let’s be clear that I do not think advertising is a bad idea. I just think that it is a shame that not one of those ‘marketing’ people you buy all of your monthly ads from has ever been able to identify this ‘black-hole’ I keep mentioning.

There are several reasons why no one ever bothered to point this out to you; they didn’t know, they couldn’t know, but more importantly… they didn’t care. That’s right, I said it! They didn’t care… Most of these people you rely on to promote your business have one thing on their mind and it is not your ‘throughput’. It is their quota, commission or the utilities that are going to be cut off if they don’t make a sale. Now, to be fair, I have to point out that this is NOT their fault! They really don’t know –and their company would fire them if they ‘did the right thing’. I hate to say it, but it is epidemic. Let’s imagine for a minute that someone really did care. Do you think the rep from the ad agency is going to say “Mr. Operator, I think you should reduce your advertising budget and re-invest some of that money in your location. You could really make your advertising dollar go a lot farther if you focused on bringing people in off the street, when they are driving by, fifty feet from your cash register instead of hitting them tonight when they are at home watching T.V. in their underwear”?

Forget it… it will never happen.

Hard Fact Of Advertising Life #1: Advertising agencies rely on clients that put their budget into a rotating assortment of advertising media that bring the agency the highest possible commission or ‘kick-back’. I am not picking on anybody. It is just a fact of life.

I am obviously pointing to the fact that you have thousands and thousands of people passing by your Fast Lube every single day. The average facility has 40,000 cars per day driving by, fifty to a hundred feet from their location (go ahead, go outside and count ‘em!). With all of that ‘golden-opportunity’ flowing by your facility daily, why are you trying so hard to bring people ‘to your location’? They are already there!

Think about it… what could be crazier than spending a small fortune on ‘off-site’ advertising to bring people to your business when there is already a massive flow of new customers right out in front of YOUR Fast Lube!

The Million Dollar Question:

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